It’s been a superb year for British and Irish golfers.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy successfully defended the Masters in April and then England’s Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship.
With the US Open next up, can the Brits and Irish maintain their stranglehold on the majors?
Here are the five most like to join McIlroy and Rai in glory.
Tommy Fleetwood
After winning the PGA Tour’s end-of-season Tour Championship, starring in the Ryder Cup and winning the DP World Tour’s India Championship in 2025, Fleetwood’s 2026 has never quite taken off.
But he got himself into contention at the Memorial at the start of the month, and will be hopeful that result heralds better form.
And where better for him to contest a US Open than Shinnecock Hills – the scene of his final round 63 in 2018 that earned him second place?
Matt Fitzpatrick
The Sheffield man is not only the winner of the Valspar Championship, Zurich Classic and RBC Heritage this year, he is also a former US Open champion.
His triumph came in 2022 at The Country Club in Brookline and was prefaced by two major championship top 20s earlier in the season.
Guess what? This year he was T18 at the Masters and T14 in the PGA Championship. Game on.
Tyrrell Hatton
Deep into his third season of LIV Golf, the Englishman finally landed a second win last week in Spain and that ought to make him bullish about his chances at Shinnecock.
He played the course well when finishing T6 in the 2018 US Open and, what’s more, he’s in a good run of form in the majors.
He’s finished top 15 in the last three Masters, was T4 in last year’s US Open and was T16 in last year’s Open.
Justin Rose
The Englishman is a veteran who just doesn’t know how to stop competing in the majors.
He’s only won one of them – the 2013 US Open at Merion – but in recent years he’s become a constant on the top page at the big events: T2 in the 2024 Open, second and T3 in the last two Masters, and T10 in last month’s PGA Championship.
The bad news? Since he was T3 in the 2019 US Open he’s only 1-for-5 at making the cut in this championship.
Shane Lowry
The 2019 Open champion has broken a run of strong major form in recent times.
From the start of 2021 through the end of 2024 he was 12-for-16 at finishing top 25. But his last six majors have failed to reap anything better than T30.
Don’t discount him, however. He dearly wants to win another major, is inspired by his pal McIlroy, and he was T2 in the 2016 US Open.
Read next: How Aaron Rai became a Major champion at the PGA Championship
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Article Link: US Open 2026: Britain and Ireland’s leading contenders analysed